Dubai: The announcement by Airbus earlier this month of a further delay in the delivery of the A380 superjumbo by up to one year has caused considerable concern among its customers, notably Dubai's Emirates airline, whose order for 45 represents 27 per cent of the planemaker's orderbook of 159.
Emirates, which was to receive its first A380 this month, will not get it until August 2008 nearly 22 months after the initial delivery was scheduled.
What does the delay mean to Dubai International Airport which has been fast gearing up for the planned A380 delivery?
Although Emirates is unlikely to cancel its mammoth order, the delay will have profound impact on the Dh15 billion expansion of the Dubai International Airport, which by 2012 will become the world's largest superjumbo hub with more than 20 double-deck contact gates, equipped to handle up to 800 passengers one way with a minimum transit time.
The A380 delay could impact the construction of the remaining terminals of the airport.
"There are a number of contact gates in Concourse 2, currently under construction that are equipped to handle the A380 superjumbo flights. These are being constructed in line with the planned delivery of the A380s," Huraiz Bin Huraiz, commercial director of Dubai Civil Aviation told Gulf News recently.
"We have already made two modifications to the airport's existing concourse, Shaikh Rashid Terminal, including altering two of its boarding gates for the A380.
"With regards to the delay in delivery of the A380s, I don't think we will need to make any fresh changes to Concourse 2/Terminal 3 package under the airport expansion plan. All these contact gates are also able to handle normal aircraft." He also did not anticipate any delay in the construction works. "Most of the tenders have already been issued and contractors are working as per schedule. We do not see any delay in that."
"Construction of the Concourse 2/Terminal 3 package will be completed next year, when the capacity of the airport will increase significantly. Last year, 24.7 million passengers passed through the airport, of which 14.5 million were carried by Emirates. Dubai airport has already exceeded the 22 million annual passenger handling capacity.
"Currently we are handling more passengers than the capacity of the existing terminals, Terminal 1, 2, and Concourse 1.
"However, tender for construction of Concourse 3 is yet to be announced, which upon completion, will raise the airport's capacity to 70 million."
The Dubai Government has already invested in associated infrastructure, including expanding the runway, constructing a Dh1.3 billion maintenance facility for the A380s. The project is almost complete and will serve a large fleet of most modern aircraft, including B777s, B747s and the A380 superjumbos.
Investment in the UAE's aviation sector, primarily driven by Dubai and Abu Dhabi, including the recently completed projects to those under planning and development will cross Dh350.5 billion ($95.5 billion). Of this, Dh295 billion, or 84.16 per cent are being spent by the Dubai Government alone, including Dh140 billion in infrastructure and airport development as well as Dh155 billion in aircraft acquisition of 143 aircraft including 30 on options and 113 firm orders. However, Emirates' Dh155 billion fleet expansion bill will not be directly financed by the government.
Emirates, currently operates a fleet of 99 wide-bodied aircraft. It will receive its 100th aircraft next month.
Your comments
What I think Emirates should do is to cancel all the orders for A380 and teach the Airbus a lesson, and also ask for compensation for the delay.
Abbas
Ajman,UAE
Don't let the A380 delivery delay pull
back the fast pace of development happening in Dubai's aviation sector.
Rajesh
Al Ain,UAE
